Top 16 seeds cruised their ways to the men’s round of 16, as 15th-seeds Law Weng Sam/Leong On Ieng from Macao, China and 16th-seeds Wang Sin Ting/Li Yun-Ting of the host nation were the only two pairings among the women’s Top 16 seeds who missed the cut for the knockout stage of the “Taichung Bank” AVC Beach Tour Penghu Open at Aimen Beach, Penghu Islands on Friday.
In the men’s event, Top 3 seeds lived up to expectations to top their respective pools, with Australian top seeds Mark Nicolaidis/Izac Carracher, who finished 9th at FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships Rome 2022, making a clean sweep in Pool A without dropping a set to their respective rivals.
On Friday, the Aussies spent 26 minutes in demolishing Malaysians Wei Chun Ler/Kai Xu Looi 21-9, 21-12 in their last preliminary match to determine the Pool A winners. However, both pairings have already made it to the Saturday’s round of 16.
Thailand’s second seeds Pithak Tipjan/Poravid Taovato, who last December captured their first Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour medal, a Subic Bay Futures gold, aside from picking up bronze medal at this year’s Asian Senior Beach Volleyball Championships in Pingtan, China, topped Pool B as expected. The Thai duo remained the strong team to be reckoned with in this double-gender Penghu Open as they have yet lost a set to their respective rivals.
On Friday, Pithak and Poravid had a comfortable match against Hong Kong, China’s Wong Ka Yan/Tse Kin Wang 21-9, 21-15. However, both teams had already secured their spots in the round of 16.
Another Thai duo, third seeds Surin Jongklang/Dunwinit Kaewsai, emerged as the top spot in Pool C without losing a set. On Friday, Surin and Dunwinit defeated Philippines’ Alnakran Abdilla/Jaron Requinton 21-19, 21-16.
The 13th seeds James Buytrago/Jude Garcia of Philippines bounced back from the first set loss to Fuller Bradley/Nicklin Alani, who picked up silver medal at the Wenzhou Cangnan Futures event in China a few days ago, to stun the New Zealand’s fourth seeds with comeback 2-1 (16-21, 21-17, 15-13) win to capture the top spot in Pool D.
Pool E was dominated by Japan’s 12th-seeds Kosuke Fukushima/Hiroki Dylan Kurokawa, who pulled off an upset 2-1 (18-21, 21-18, 15-11) win against Thailand’s fifth seeds Banlue Nakprakhong/Wachirawit Muadpha.
Qatar’s sixth seeds Ibrahim Nassim Abdallah/Zaki Mohammed Ihab topped Pool F after 2-0 (21-9, 21-17) rout of Indonesians Mohammad…
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